D3 Wizard Fresh Level 70 Guide S20 | 2.6.8

Fresh 70 Wizard? Wanna get the Free Set? Look no further! Here we direct you on how to beat the seasonal journey entries and to collect Haedrig’s gifts in the most efficient way. We will be discussing builds per chapter in our Fresh 70 Wizard Guide to ensure a smoother flow in getting the free set.

Important Note: Crafting Reaper’s Wraps RIGHT NOW is a significant boost for such little effort. The recipe drops from any torment Malthael.

S18 Season of Triune and YOU

In S18, the seasonal bonus DIRECTLY BENEFITS any character, at any point in their progression – which is great seeing as this is a “Fresh Level 70” guide.

A chance to gain an “occulus ring” of any one of the following: Damage, CDR, or RCR, is a godly bonus. While RCR isn’t so hot, and CDR depends on build – ANYONE CAN BENEFIT FROM DOUBLE DAMAGE!

Luckily, this makes our leveling and progression journey a little easier this time around.

Fresh 70 Wizard: Getting the Free Set!

Click below to reveal the instructions you need for each step:

IMPORTANT: Setting up!

You don’t need to have legendary items with you to get your free set. Just fixing up the yellows you pick up or crafted will surely help you “wizzzz” by the seasonal journey.

While Delsere is a defense centric set – DO NOT IGNORE IT! You still need the proper ARMOR ROLLS or YOU will get rolled!

Wizards are INT characters, meaning you get low Armor but high Resists! You need to be mindful of your defensive stats. How to solve this? Roll Armor on Chest, Legs, Boots, Shoulders, and Belt. These will also work well when Ice Armor-Crystallize is part of your build.

2H Mace: The magic stats here are INT, LIFE PER HIT or SOCKETS with Amethyst for that Life per Hit.

A NOTE ON GEMS:Red and Green give ARMOR which is much needed for you. Also, purple gives VIT. You won’t need Topaz (Int) until later (or ever…)

Arcane%: is a “Safe” all around choice for skills we will be using early and late.

Boots: INT, Armor, and Disintegrate% (or rerollable Skill %) should be in here. Since we will be using Disintegrate for the foreseeable future, roll this on your free set piece asap.

Belt: this thing here is gonna bring in huge defensive stats for you – and that’s exactly what we need. INT VIT ARMOR LIFE is the stack you’re looking for.

Rings and Amulet: you’ll need SOCKETS on these in preparation for legendary gems. But before then, feel free to roll and get temporary defensive stats.

Temporary pieces – Chest, legs, shoulder, gloves, boots: While you don’t have your free pieces, make sure you get “decent” yellows with great DEFENSIVE stats. Survival will be your only roadblock.

Skill%? It would be safe to have boots with the skill% rerolled (so it’s flexible). I would choose Arcane Orb% for the mid-game, but Disintegrate% for the early game.

Elemental%? This depends on your goals. If you think you’re struggling right now Arcane% isn’t bad, but hopefully this is the flexible reroll as

Save any good 1-hander / source you pick up along the way. Switch to this if it’s more OP than you’re current 2hander. Etched Sigil is what you’re hoping for.

You got pets? Well, let one of them loose to go pick up those coins! You’re gonna need all the moolah to upgrade crafters.

Templar. Don’t forget to bring him with you!
Pet. For all the gold fetching!

Ultimately, REROLL OFF USELESS STATS like…

ALLRES– you have too much of it. Go for Armor

Life Regen – trash tier stat. Not impactful at all.

CDR and RCR– too much is not needed, especially in unrefined early builds.

Take GREAT STATS such as…

INT & VIT – your core stats. It’s hard to get too much

ARMOR– is SUPER IMPORTANT for your defenses.

Any CRIT STAT – can’t go wrong with these.

Life Per Hit – is very useful early on. Great rolls on temporary items.

It’s not about getting the perfect stats right now – but getting “good ones”, while avoiding useless ones.

Customize Skill Bindings

If you’re not allowed to put two skills on your bar because they’re from the same category – FEAR NOT! This isn’t a bug or a permanent in-game restriction. You simply have to CHECK ON ELECTIVE MODE, via Esc > Options > Gameplay > Elective Mode!

Binding Force Move to Mouse wheel up & down is a value change that every player should make IMO. It prevents misclicks and skill misfires, and forces you to move to where otherwise an enemy might be.

Season Journey Chapters Table

Here’s an overview of what you should accomplish per chapter for this season.Shift+J (PC) in game to check.

If you have Armor rolls in a few of your gear, Crystallize becomes pretty good. No real changes to the build. Glass Cannon may be a little greedy if your defenses suck, so use Galvanizing Ward if needed.

Chapter 3 on Master difficulty only for killing a couple of bosses and a rift. Bounty cache doesn’t really need to be on Master so opt to do it on Hard. Besides, you’ll be getting the same amount of materials on either difficulty.

The above build is a copy for the GR20 build – use it in the TIV entries to practice on

Upgrade a Rare to Legendary w/ Kanai’s Cube: Hmm hmm hmm… I’m 99.9% sure Wand is the correct choice. So many wands just give you a world of power. You’re looking for Fragment of Destiny or Aether Walker.

Set Difficulty to Torment IV: Teleport to bosses then bzzzt those elites!

Kill Zoltun Kulle – Act II, Archives of Zoltun Kulle

Kill Odeg the Keywarden – Act I, Fields of Misery

Kill Sokahr the Keywarden – Act II, Dahlgur Oasis

Kill Xah’Rith the Keywarden – Act III, Stonefort

Kill Nekarat the Keywarden – Act IV, Garden of Hope 2nd Tier

Keywardens maps have a key icon next to the waypoint. Purple arrows point you to their location after a short while once you’re in their respective map.

Still need a couple of Jewelcrafting recipes? Just teleport to Act 2 town, talk to Squirt the Peddler and buy some hellfire recipes. Value!

Itching to get your final set? We only have GR20 solo to do. Check obelisk if its unlocked. But to be sure, just do a couple of the highest GRs you can, get some legendary gems in the process and/or level them up before entering the zone.

Wizard GR 20: Delsere's 4 piece

(This is significantly easier due to S18’s buff)

Delsere’s 4 is WEAK.This won’t be easy if you’re doing it RAW like I did. Read on.

If you slacked off on Armor rolls, Life per Hit – or high impact rolls like Arcane%… you’re gonna FEEL IT NOW, I guarantee it. Now is the time to get CREATIVE! If you found a value legendary – edit the build! This IS NOT a walk in the park with pure yellows.

If you really cant do it, do 3x lower GR’s (10ish) to get 3 Legendary gems, then socket them. It should help you greatly.

Cleared this using various sets of yellow items. Play carefully and heed my advice, you’ll be fine.

IF YOU’RE USING A 1-HAND WEAPON MAKE SURE IT’S AN AMAZING ONE! Using a 1-hander leads to crippling Arcane Power shortages due to quick base ASPD. Revert to your trusty ‘ol 2H Mace if you have to.

SAVE YOUR ARCHON FOR ELITES: If you took Archon (I cleared WITH AND WITHOUT IT), Save it… SAVE IT. It’s a precious skill that’s guaranteed to kill any elite pack. DO NOT WASTE IT ON MOBILE “RUN AWAY” TYPE MONSTERS! 100 Second base cooldown on Pure Power is NO JOKE – Waste it and you WILL fail.

Entropy has a good AoE so try to fight mini clumps – but DO NOT ENDANGER YOURSELF.

DON’T STOP TO KILL EVERY WHITE: Loosely search for elites while only turning back to fight clumps of whites. If you try to “kill every isolated dude”, you WILL FAIL.

Delsere’s is surprisingly tough, but you NEED to have some FORM of HP recovery, or shielding. Galvanizing Ward is excellent here- reset it using Teleport. RUN IF YOU HAVE TO.

Given how badly I gave myself a disadvantage – this should be more realistic for you.

Delsere’s FREE set early game stat fixing – follow this reroll stat priority:

The million ways of Delsere

Delsere’s is an open set which can use A LOT of different item setups.
While I can’t possibly advise you on all evolutions – the build is very easy to edit.

That being said, I’m going to list down items for BOTHSpectral Blade and Arcane Orb setups, since I feel they’re the friendliest to speedfarm with. Since you have two main ways to power up, this makes the early game transition a breeze.

AS ALWAYS, GET REAPER’S WRAPS ASAP! It’s a non-rng power boost that will GREATLY patch up your early game. Plans drop from any Torment Malthael!

You’ll learn more in the coming chunks of this guide. But for now, it’s time to power up. Legendary Gems and Key Items are discussed in the next sections. But you have quite a good summary via the table just up there.

A quick review before proceeding…

Keep these important things in mind as you progress!

Non-set pieces

2H Mace: is your default weapon. I’m sure you have it by now, right? INT VIT Life per Hit and Socket are great stats.

Cold% or Lightning% – For Arcane Orb and/or Spectral Blade.

Get the proper Armor rolls NOW – Like mentioned a few times before, INT gives Resists and not Armor. Roll Armor on: Chest Legs Shoulder Boots and Belt. Neglecting Armor is ignoring an entire facet of our mitigation. INT characters usually have Armor buffing skills which require a high base armor rating to shine (ie Energy Armor [all runes], Ice Armor-Crystallize).

Self-healing is impossible to obtain as a Wizard using base skills. Life per hitand Shielding are our only form of sustainability. Life per Hit on weapon is AMAZING in the early game! Abuse it now while you’re in… well… the early game. This is why I heavily recommend Galvanizing Ward as well.

Elemental% shows up on Bracers and Amulets. Arcane% is probably the safest bet.

Skill% – It would be nice to have boots with INT VIT ARMOR SKILL%, where Skill% is the rerolled stat so you can be flexible. Arcane Orb% (and most other main skills) are found on boots. Primary Skills like Spectral Blade%, is found on Legs and Belt (optional).

Belts are a titanic source of toughness! INT VIT LIFE ARMOR.

Arcane Power on Critical Strikeis a unique Wizard stat that rolls on Sources and Wizard Hats. While you may or may not want this at various points of your build, it’s good to know.

Ultimately, REROLL OFF USELESS STATS like…

ALLRES– you have too much of it. Go for Armor

Life Regen – trash tier stat. Not impactful at all.

CDR and RCR– too much is not needed, especially in unrefined early builds.

Take GREAT STATS such as…

INT & VIT – your core stats. It’s hard to get too much

ARMOR– is SUPER IMPORTANT for your defenses.

Any CRIT STAT – can’t go wrong with these.

Life Per Hit– is very useful early on. Great rolls on temporary items.

Getting the “correct” stats has a much higher impact vs.
getting the “perfect” stats, for now.

Gaining Power!

Now we have to gain as much power, as quickly as possible.

Legendary Gems

This is the easiest way to gain power simply because acquiring them has little to no RNG. Getting 3 of your best gems will increase your power dramatically in a short time span.

Click on the tabs to see Delsere’s “Big 3” gems and “others”.

Delsere's Fresh 70 - 3 GemsOther gems?

Get these three to L25 ASAP:

Bane of the Powerful is pure value. For 25 levels, you already reach the maximum damage potential of the gem! It plays nicely into our style of elite genocide.

Bane of the Trapped fits right in. Dump as many points as you can into this. I hope I don’t have to answer “How do I trigger the slow?”.

Need Defenses? Consider defensive gems.

Molten Wildebeest’s Gizzard helps you out early on with brainless speedfarming. It’s a fantastic early game option especially for newer players use it for augments lateron! Late game, Esoteric Alteration is the defensive gem of choice.

Simplicity’s Strength is an absurdly powerful gem that you can downright ABUSE with Spectral Blade (and only gets so much better with supporting items). It boosts your DPS and provides you with a sick source of self healing. Great for “transitioning builds”, and you can use it for augmentation later.

Don’t worry about “wasting” defensive gems – as you can use them for augments.

Any other gems worth it?

Bane of the Stricken is mandatory once you’re at the “limits”. Only for high GR’s, dump points into it if there’s nothing else.

Do nephs and GRs until you get your gems and leveled them up to 25. GR34 is enough to get a gem to 25. With your best gems at L25 – try much higher Torment levels. Personally, I tried to make this process as quick as possible doing Neph>GR>Neph>GR in a chain until I got what I want.

Playing the Build & Adjustments

Now that you have the base “power level” of your 6 set and gems, let’s take a short time to review How to Play the Build. Here’s some really basic tips for playing Delsere’s Magnum Opus to help you as you progress into higher difficulties. It’s by no means comprehensive, but still helpful.

You might need to tweak your build to make up for some weak points as you get your items. Below are the possible options for said changes.

Yeah, I know it sucks that I have to put two different offensive skills in the base build. BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO USE BOTH IF YOU DON’T WANT TO. Feel free to use one or both.

It’s quite simple really. Slow Time and kill. The main problem with Delsere 6? People getting lazy to Slow Time.

Delsere has an annoying setup time compared to most other builds. So, especially if you’re a newer player, get rid of the habit of killing non-clumped loose white mobs.

Ditch problematic Elites, when I was newer I loved to bang my head versus terrible elites thinking “I should always kill them!”. You’ll find out when you reach higher GR that this simply shouldn’t be the case. If there’s a set out there capable of ditching bad elites – it’s Delsere’s.

There’s really not much to say regarding the technicality of this build this early on in the game. It’s fairly simple and straightforward.

More offense or Arcane Power needed?

For resource gain, there’s a ton of ways to get more AP. For our setup, though, you shouldn’t look further than Familiar-Arcanot or the Prodigy passive. (I don’t think you need both).

Aside from these, I mean, there are many ways to gain AP but they aren’t too practical. Arcane Power on Critical Hit is a stat that shows up on Sources and Wizard Hats so keep an eye out for that – if you ever need it.

Increasing Damage?

Delsere’s doesn’t struggle early game with damage, and unlocking the potential of Delsere’s damage capabilities are NOT tied to minor skill changes. Delsere’s usability issue and unclear build path are what holds its damage back early on. That being said here’s a few suggestions if you ever find the need…

Let’s talk about what we already recommend in the build…

Audacity is the best DPS passive, followed by the well-rounded Unwavering Will. This pair is oft used side by side in the later game iterations of many Wizard builds. Long story short, between Audacity and Unwavering Will, that’s a 40% damage increase. Other sources aren’t very practical in the early game.

Slow Time – Stretch Time is THE BEST offensive choice for Slow Time runes. +ASPD is NOT PART OF THE WIZARD KIT AT ALL – and this BEATS Time Warp! Why? +ASPD buffs ALL of your other damage boosts (to put it simply…). It increases your DPS in a whole new vector compared to the now diluted “+DMG”.

More defense needed?

Defense is seen as self-healing and damage reduction.

Wizards have no innate self-heal – they rely on shields. Which is why Life per Hit is valuable in the early game – going shield heavy isn’t a luxury we can go for right now! Simplicity’s Strength is a unique option here.

Shielding comes in many forms, but Galvanizing Ward is arguably the best – it allows you to have 1.6x your toughness before engaging, and very easy to reset mid-fight via Teleport-Wormhole. Dominance is a lesser used passive but pretty okay.

Items to look for

Our build currently uses both Spectral Blade AND Arcane Orb to deal with different situations and help us round out our build.I chose those two skills as a baseline since they’re the easiest to build up to, and gain a base power level strong enough to SPEED FARM. Will one of them be in your final build? It doesn’t matter – as it’s all about farming fast NOW.

Regardless, If you’re just starting out Reaper’s Wraps is a mega value item you don’t need RNG for. Recipe drops from any Torment Malthael!

Blood ShardsDeath's BreathClassics

Using Blood Shards:

There are a grand total of 0 body items that modify Arcane Orb, and most other Wizard skills. There’s not much you want in terms of shards and body armor…

Belt: Shame of Delsere, +50% ASPD, that’s huge. Oh, you now generate AP, too? Goodbye to all “arcane power” management options in your build! It does a lot behind the scenes to our build, giving us more open slots. Works wonders with the eventual Triumvirate. Other good belts include Goldwrap or Hergbrash’s Binding (Arcane Torrent works with D6)

SOURCES: There’s a chunky amount of possible filler items and depending on what build you want to go for, even end game viable ones. Triumvirate makes our AoE farming great with Arcane Orb. Etched Sigil is a very popular source that fits in to a vast array of great Wiz builds – look for it!

A small note on bounty items to chase for…Ring of Royal Grandeur (ACT I) to stick in another legendary item.Avarice (ACT III) to boost our speedfarm capability!

Convention of Elements: Good ‘ol CoE. Wear it, Kanai it, as a filler or till the end of time. Learning to maximize CoE in any build you choose is a turning point for higher GR’s. This ring fits in amazing thematically with Tal Rasha, ey?w

Unity: Straight 50% damage reduction in the cube. Too bad you need two of ’em.

Bridging to the End-game

So you skipped a whole chunk of the powering up phase with the free set. Now what? Like I always say, “Speedfarming first before pushing GR’s”. So, convert what you have NOW to be as speedfarmy as possible, first.

I’ve been following this guide for about a week now and compared to “competitors” builds, I find this one the most enjoyable. But I’ve seen to hit a rough spot, and I’m stuck hovering between T5-T7. Unfortunately I didn’t come accross this guide until I already progressed a little bit so my rolls aren’t perfect. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Well that would first depend on your personal goals. If you’re “stuck”, you should first find out where you’re progressing. What do you envision it is your goal this season would be? The free set is meant to be a free set, and you don’t need to STICK with it to the end – the build entailed in the fresh 70 guide will help you along to reach to “point of freedom”. Let me know what exactly is keeping you down? Survivability? Speed in clearing? What’s your goals this season?